I’m back!

Dear all,

Huge apologies for the lack of bloggage and for the mysterious goings on on my homepage. I have recently ended up with an iphone would you believe? It’s a quite remarkable contraption capable of astonishing things for a mere machine. The one bugger with it is it’s so dashed complicated it takes a muppet like me considerable time to get to grips with it. The particular feature I struggled with was how to enlarge the internet view so I could actually see it without all hell breaking loose. I’ve since discovered one can achieve this by stretching it with one’s fingers, but prior to this I was only aware of the ‘double-click’ option. This I did, but unfortunately I managed to click on all manner of things without realising which is why my homepage had a random blog from some time ago on the front page as well as not having the actual ‘welcome to the website’ bit. This was a long winded way of me telling you all that’s why there hasn’t been much bloggage.

So what’s been happening then? First up I played the Lamb and Flag in Haywood which was a real pleasure with a great, appreciative crowd and a really great night all round. Then it was down to Rye to play the Creative Centre with Walsh and Pound which was a cracking gig all round so many thanks to those who came out. I also fell in love with Rye, what an amazing place! How refreshing it was to be on a high street with no chain shops whatsoever, all independent places including a truly awesome music shop which I could have spent hours in. Piles of CD’s like a game of jenga and a wonderful welcome. Rye is seriously cool!

Anyway next up I went to my dear old uncle Phil’s wedding which was a wonderful weekend. I’m very close to my family and it was just so great to see them all, especially in such happy circumstances! After that I popped down to London to play King’s Place festival with Walsh and Pound which was a very enjoyable gig indeed. We then stayed South for a gig in Fareham (or thereabouts) as we headlined Forest Folk which was really great craic and a great crowd so many thanks to them.

Then it was a LOOONG trip up North to return to my former home, the wonderful Newcastle. Intensive rehearsals were had throughout the week culminating in the launch of ‘The Same But Different’ with the full Dan Walsh band at the Corner House. A slightly stressful build up to the gig but we all really enjoyed the performance and I was so delighted to see a full house and some familiar faces. Thank you one and all, especially to my band members who are amazing and nothing else but. I then played a good old covers fest with Simma on the Saturday night at Nancy’s Bordello which is always a great laugh and this was a real classic.

Then it was a drive down to Stockport to play the Midway Folk Club with none other than the legendary Alistair Anderson. What an amazing experience it was to play with him. He described his experiences of being lucky enough to play with his Northumbrian music idols and to be honest it was the same for me on Monday night! More gigs are planned with Alistair so stay tuned (whatever that means…think I’ve blabbered about that before so won’t again…).

That’s about it I think. I’m on Stafford FM tomorrow between 7 and 9 if you fancy tuning in and, amazingly, on Friday night I’m joining the Levellers for a song at their gig at Buxton Opera House! Really excited about making a little guest appearance with them. Then on Saturday I’ll be doing my favourite one of all – Joxers in Stafford probably for a ludicrous 3 hour set as normal. Would love to see any of you there.

So life…it’s a funny old thing isn’t it? It’s a bit of a stressful time at present for various reasons but you know what, you just have to plod along. I’ve got innumerable friends, a wonderful family, an incredible girlfriend and a passionate hobby that is also my job. So what if things get hard eh? Next year’s gig plans are underway and a fair few are in, I’ll be updating the website in due course.

So what’s been happening in the world then? Andrew Mitchell’s proved himself a total tool by yelling at a police officer for not letting him cycle and as always, Cameron’s stuck up for his crony. Did he call them plebs? Probably and if he did then shame on him for being so snobby. But there is another point here – how the hell did the Sun find out?! Surely a policeman must have told them or how else would they know?! A little worrying perhaps…

Perhaps you’d like to hear about my train travel yesterday. Stafford to Northampton. Direct train. Wouldn’t think too much could go wrong? Ah but this is the Walsh travel curse. My train terminated at Rugby because a freight train broke down between Rugby and Northampton and succeeded in blocking two other trains that were en route because, and I quote the train tannoy, ‘it had really hot wheels’. Apparently it left the brake on the whole time. Seriously what have I done to deserve this travel nonsense?! Why does a freight train time its demise just for when I travel. Anyway the upshot of it all is the meeting I was going to have in Northampton the happened in Rugby instead thanks to the people in question being willing to drive out there but it gets worse. I then went back to Rugby station to find that they had also cancelled my train back to Stafford, this time because of staff shortages. Again why that one?! Do they just go ‘ah Walsh is travelling now, so go for your break’?! Anyway I then asked a member of staff and she said I had to wait for the next one an hour later. I knew she was talking twaddle so I asked another chap if I should go via Birmingham and he said yes so I did. So I spent all afternoon at a train station I was never even supposed to stop at!